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Is a Facetime is good for music lessons?

Facetime Music Lessons If on a phone, the app can be used over wifi or the cellular network, which can help eliminate lag and technical connection issues. If you teach group lessons, you can use facetime for group calls, and the invite can be sent in a normal text message thread.

candsmusic.com - Video Platforms for Online Music Lessons - C&S Music
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Whether you teach piano lessons, voice lessons, guitar lessons, theory lessons, strings, brass – if you are a private music teacher in for any instrument in any capacity, you know that online music lessons are on the rise, and it’s likely to stay that way for a while. With the increase of online music lessons, I have seen so many different ideas on the best ways to go about online lessons, the best softwares to use, the best way to plan for those music lessons, and which video platform we, as private music teachers, should be using for our online lessons. I moved my studio to online voice, piano, and theory lessons about two months ago, and I have tried this online lesson thing a couple of different ways and tried out several different video platforms to figure out which one is the best fit for myself and my students. Are you a Private Music Teacher? Here at C&S Music, we know that the business side of things is… hard. And way too expensive! Click below to grab a list of the best free resources available for Private Music Teachers and Music Studio owners! Send it to me!

Facetime Music Lessons

Facetime has become my personal favorite video platform for teaching online music lessons but it does come with a heavy caveat: both parties need to have apple products in order for it to work, since Facetime is exclusively for apple products. If both you and your students have access to the facetime app, it is great for a number of different reasons: If on a phone, the app can be used over wifi or the cellular network, which can help eliminate lag and technical connection issues If you teach group lessons, you can use facetime for group calls, and the invite can be sent in a normal text message thread If you or your student has poor internet and poor cell service, you can do a simple audio call over facetime and still keep all your call information in one app. *If you are in the market for a new computer specifically for teaching online music lessons, I highly recommend the 2020 Macbook Air. I just got one to replace my older Air, and it is AMAZING. Lightning fast, and the screen is absolutely beautiful. It makes prepping and lesson planning a little bit more enjoyable!

Skype Music Lessons

Skype has been a household name in video conferencing for several years now – I remember using Skype to video chat with my friends almost 10 years ago! Skype has been around for a while, and has some really great features that make it a good option for online music lessons. For my students that don’t use Apple products, I use Square (my scheduling and payment software) to send out reminder texts at lesson time including a link to a Skype call with me. When the student joins the call, I get a notification and can hop on and start the lesson.

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Skype is a video-text hybrid chat program, so there is an option to use text to communicate, even during a call. This has proved to be helpful when the student doesn’t have their microphone on and I can’t hear them or they can’t hear me – I am able to walk them through getting it all set up even if they can’t hear me. The last thing that I find helpful in the Skype platform is the option to blur your background. I know it seems like a small thing, but I occasionally have to move around in my home and conduct lessons in unexpected spaces. The option to blur my background helps the students focus on me rather than what’s behind me.

Zoom Music Lessons

Zoom is all the rage right now – it seems to be the poster child of education during this pandemic. I personally have not used it in an educational setting, but I have used it for group chats with my family around the country and it seems to have great connectivity and some cool features. If you teach group lessons, Zoom is the way to go. As an administrator or host, you send out a link and password (very secure) for everyone to join a call at a certain time, and voila – you have your virtual classroom. The host has the option to mute all participants, share his or her screen, and share his or her computer audio. Check out their site for the full list of features. The free version of Zoom is limited to 40 minute sessions when there are more than 2 participants, but if you are only teaching private lessons, then it is totally unlimited for totally free! These three platforms, while not the only options, are going to be your best free options. Most other platforms charge monthly fees or per meeting or per minute, and these three let you teach online music lessons without incurring yet another cost. Have questions? Want help setting your studio up for online success? We are here to help! Leave a comment or shoot us an email and we will be happy to help in in any way we can.

candsmusic.com - Video Platforms for Online Music Lessons - C&S Music
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